For some reason lately the DVD player in my laptop won't work. If I go to Device Manager it shows the Region is set to 2 and says I have 4 changes left. My region is 4 but I cannot change the region. It just gives an error. I suspect the DVD drive has had it, but has anyone got any suggestions? I have already tried updating the driver and uninstalling the device, then restarting the machine. neither helped. Win10 1909 x64. VLC was my software of choice when the drive still worked. Thanks.
What is the model of the drive? You can find out by opening Device Manager and expanding DVD/CD-ROM drives.
Initially no CDs or DVDs would play, so I checked Device Manager in an attempt to find out why. The disks will spin but not load. I don't know why the region has changed but this is the error.
Do you have a DVD in the drive, when trying to change the region, as per the instructions on the error message? If not, insert a DVD and try again. If that fails, you could install DVDFab Passkey Lite, which will let you watch content from another region. It's free. https://www.dvdfab.cn/passkey-lite.htm
Yeah, I've tried with different CDs and DVDs but it refuses to change. Sadly, I think it is more terminal than that as it won't even boot to recovery disks or ISOs outside Windows anymore.
I just tried to boot to an old Macrium Reflect disk I know used to work and I got an error that No Operating System was found and to check the lead. I don't use the DVD drive on that machine much. I wonder how much a replacement drive would be? Or would it be cheaper (and easier) to grab an external DVD drive?
This will sound silly. If like mine there's a single screw holding in the drive, remove it & remove the drive. Spray compressed air into the empty bay blowing out the connection blank. Do the same with the drive & on the inside too. Reinsert drive into bay. Leave the screw out at first & see if the drive works. Then reinsert the screw till it barely doesn't fall out. Then if still no go shutdown tighten screw half a turn & repeat, shutting down before each screw half turn. This silly exercise saved me from replacing a dozen or more dvd drives during my repair/resale days.
Cool! Thanks guys. @zapjb , I'll definitely try that. It is an Acer laptop and I'm not sure exactly what or how the DVD drive is held in place but I will find out.
@roger_m , Does this look reasonable? https://www.amazon.com.au/External-Drive-USB-Portable-Slim/dp/B078JKG9LH?s=computers I don't normally put much weight in reviews but the ones for this product don't look favourable. Or do you have a link for a replacement drive to suite the laptop? Thanks.
If it is the Aspire 5740G laptop that you messaged me about a long time ago, then you can buy a replacement internal drive from the following link. It's $30 with free shipping from the US. https://www.mydvddrives.com/replacement-for-acer-aspire-5740g-sata-cd-dvdrwrom-drive-103583 I had a look on eBay and was unable to find a drive for your laptop locally. It's pretty easy to replace the drive. It should not matter than you have a 57040G rather than a 5740, as I believe that both laptops share the same design. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Acer Aspire 5740-5780 Optical Drive Replacement/106768 If you do decide to go for an external drive, this one is cheaper than the one at Amazon and has a three year warranty. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Externa...gjOogetsz7w:sc:AU_StandardDelivery!4352!AU!-1 It should work fine, but if you want better quality, buy a brand name one, such as this one from LG. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LG-USB-...OSwzfFd6Mg9:sc:AU_StandardDelivery!4352!AU!-1 It has mostly positive reviews at Best Buy. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/review...ternal-usb-2-0-dvd-writer-drive-multi/1970008
Thanks, that is very helpful. It is quite easy to remove the drive. I took it out and blew air through to clean it out as suggested above by @zapjb , but I'll wait until I have more patience to try the rest of his tips, IE turning the screw 1/2 a turn etc. It's not urgent so I may wait until after the new year before I see if the drive works at all or needs a replacement. I do have an ASUS external drive that does work fine, which I have been using on my desktop PC.
